Research by @hajsakansson.bsky.social et al, investigating urban-rural tensions in Sweden, finds
•rural respondents exhibit stronger in-group identity and stronger place-based resentment than urban ones;
•this difference is not reflected in political behaviour:
buff.ly/c5e01F7
In short: Sweden shows a clear asymmetry in place-based resentment, with rural respondents expressing more resentment toward urbanites than vice versa, but this does not make them more negative to political statements made by urban politicians.
Main finding: Despite these tensions, we find no place-based bias. Rural respondents were not less receptive toward urban politicians’ political statements, and urban respondents were not less receptive toward rural politicians’ statements.
Descriptively, we find clear divides: Rural respondents showed stronger in-group identity, higher resentment, and more negative stereotypes of urbanites, compared to urban respondents.
We ran a pre-registered online survey experiment (n = 2,051), experimentally varying whether statements came from rural or urban politicians.
New paper out! We examine urban–rural tensions in Sweden, testing whether place identities and resentment shape how people evaluate political statements, with Gustav Tinghög and Gissur Erlingsson.
Great study on the urban-rural divide in Sweden. Clear attitude- and identity-based polarization, but no systematic bias towards out-group political candidates.
SÅ GRYM!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Big congrats!! So well deserved! 🙌
